Hi WCA Community,

Below you can find a summary of some of the notable cases the WCA Integrity Committee has worked on, as well as some general WIC updates from the past three months.

In the last quarter, the WCA Integrity Committee opened 10 cases and closed 12. This resulted in 2 bans and 4 warnings, while 6 cases ended with no action. Below, you can find summaries of some notable cases:

• An investigation was opened after repeated reports of a competitor being disruptive in competition settings, which Volunteers shared with the WIC made them uncomfortable with hosting events the competitor specialized in. The WIC reached out to the competitor and discussed means of mediating their behavioural issues but found their responses unsatisfactory. The competitor received a short ban.
• An investigation was opened after suspicions that a competitor’s behaviour in blindfolded events was consistent with the possibility that they were looking under the blindfold. Based on video evidence and delegate testimony, the WIC concluded that peeking did indeed occur in these official attempts. The WIC also believes the competitor’s account of the situation was not entirely truthful. The solves in suspicion were disqualified and the competitor was issued a formal warning.
• The WIC received a report detailing competitors making jokes involving inappropriate symbols with hurtful connotations. It was detailed that these competitors had pretended to conduct official attempts with puzzles showing patterns of these symbols rather than official scrambles. The competitor responsible apologized and was issued a formal warning.

General WIC updates:

After a recent application period, 8 new members have joined the WCA Integrity Committee:

• Blake Thompson (2010THOM03)
• Carmen Teo Bin Jie (2012JIET01)
• Joran Busser (2022BUSS04)
• Jordan Halford (2022HALF02)
• Kajtek Kwiatkowski (2023KWIA01)
• Lars Johan Folde (2018FOLD01)
• Rocío Fernández Usero (2014USER01)
• Tyler Williams (2017WILL05)

Cade Beck (2018BECK05) was recently appointed as Leader of the Conduct sub-team. We congratulate him and wish him the best of luck in his new role.

Amanda Schmid (2017SCHM12) was recently appointed as Senior Member of the WCA Integrity Committee. We congratulate her and wish her the best of luck in her new role.

Carter Kucala (2015KUCA01), Glib Vedmid (2016VEDM01), Yash Budhiraja (2018BUDH01), and Yuji Yoshida (2015YOSH01) recently stepped down from their positions as WIC members. Thank you so much for your work Carter, Glib and Yash, and Yuji!

Do you have questions for the WCA Integrity Committee? Feel free to send us an email. Our inboxes are always open!